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Oprah Winfrey's my smothered chicken

9
Points®
Total Time
1 hr 50 min
Prep
15 min
Cook
1 hr 20 min
Serves
8
Difficulty
Easy
This recipe at first glance may seem like a project, but most of the cook time is hands-off, and it's the easiest way to cook a lot of chicken at once. While the chicken, flavored with celery seeds, ground coriander, and red pepper flakes, roasts in the oven, the vegetables and stock are blended together until a delicious braising liquid forms. Then all you have to do is transfer the chicken and braising liquid to the oven and let all the flavors meld for an hour. From Oprah: "I wondered if there was a way to make Maya’s smothered chicken not so… smothered. There is! Instead of gravy loaded with flour and butter, we liquefy the onion, so the sauce is vegetable-based."

Ingredients

Vegetable oil

1 Tbsp

Celery seed

1 Tbsp

Ground coriander

1 Tbsp

Crushed red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp

Kosher salt

1 Tbsp

Black pepper

1 Tbsp, freshly ground

Vegetable oil

1 tsp

Uncooked onion

1 cup(s), chopped, or diced

Carrots

1 cup(s), diced

Celery

1 cup(s), chopped, diced

Celery seed

1 Tbsp

Ground coriander

1 Tbsp

Kosher salt

1 Tbsp

Crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp

Black pepper

1 tsp, freshly ground

Bay leaf

2 leaf/leaves

Fresh thyme

2 tsp, chopped

Home-prepared chicken stock

4 cup(s)

Uncooked chicken drumstick with skin and bone

5 pound(s), (16 drumsticks)

Instructions

  1. To roast chicken: Preheat the oven to 500°F. Put the chicken in a large bowl and toss with the Tbsp oil. In a small bowl, combine the Tbsp celery seed, Tbsp coriander, Tbsp red pepper flakes, Tbsp salt, and Tbsp black pepper. Add to the chicken and toss to coat. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, until the legs are starting to brown. Remove the chicken from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.
  2. While the chicken is roasting, make the braising liquid: Pour the chicken stock into a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat, and heat until hot, but don’t let it come to a boil. Heat the tsp oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining ingredients and sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and transfer the vegetables to a blender. Add the hot chicken stock and blend until smooth.
  3. To smother the chicken: Transfer the legs to a large roasting dish. Pour the braising liquid over the chicken legs, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and thick enough to coat a spoon. Remove the chicken from the oven, let rest for 10 minutes, and serve, over brown ice if you like. The chicken will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
  4. Serving size: 2 drumsticks

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